A friend forwarded me an email that held this gem. A reason it resonates with me: The first stanza of “Jesus Loves Me” is my statement of faith on my Facebook page.

Here’s the forwarded email, with a few edits:

“On Sunday I watched an Atlanta church honoring one of its senior pastors who had been retired many years. I wondered why the church even bothered to ask the old gentleman to preach at that age.

“After a warm welcome, he rose from his high back chair and walked with great effort and a sliding gait to the podium. He placed both hands on the pulpit to steady himself and then he began to speak, slowly, quietly.

“‘When I was asked to come here today and talk to you, your pastor asked me to tell you what was the greatest lesson ever learned in my 50-odd years of preaching. I thought about it for a few days and boiled it down to just one thing that made the most difference in my life and sustained me through all my trials. The one thing that I could always rely on when tears and heartbreak and pain and fear and sorrow paralyzed me. The only thing that would comfort was this verse.

Jesus loves me this I know.
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong,
We are weak but He is strong.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
The Bible tells me so.’

“When he finished, the church was quiet. He shuffled back to his chair. I don’t believe I will ever forget it.'”

A simple song. Words of truth.

When I forget about me, I sense his peace. Less of me, more of him. I am weak, he is strong.

A beautiful warrior gets her strength in Christ.

You Are Beautiful, Lucy